The History of Our Property
Every piece of land has a story that began long before its current name. Ours stretches back further than we can fully know, but we wanted to share what we've learned so far, starting at the beginning.
Long before Route 94, this area was home to the Lenape. The Munsee, one of the Lenape's three divisions, lived across New York and the northern part of their homeland, and historical accounts place Native communities near the Moodna Creek in what is now Cornwall.
As European settlers claimed more and more of the land, the Lenape lost their homeland and their communities were scattered. Lenape people are still very much with us today, in the New York area and in communities as far away as Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Canada.
Much later, this particular piece of land became a nursery called Rose Acres. In 1977, brothers Ed and Fred Pennings took it over, reopening it as the new owners. They brought their families from Holland to start a growing business in Salisbury Mills.
Greenhouses ran in the family. The brothers were two of eight siblings, all raised in the trade, and Ed had studied horticulture in the United States before persuading Fred to join him. When the Orange County Post asked why he chose America, Ed's answer was simple: "I thought everyone knew America was the land of opportunity."
That first holiday season, the paper noted that Christmas trees had arrived and the greenhouse was overflowing with plants. From there, the operation grew into a greenhouse that sold plants and flowers to the community for years. It was a big operation, and if you grew up around here, you probably remember it simply as Pennings. The family was part of the fabric of the community, too, with regular contributions to local events and organizations, and the family still farms in nearby Warwick today.
At some point, in the early 2010s, the greenhouse operation here wound down. The buildings sat empty for more than a decade. Roofs gave way, fields grew over, and nature slowly began to reclaim what was left, including an old barn that, as you may have heard, turned out to be full of barn swallows.
Our owners, Liz and Gabriel, bought the property in 2022 and saw a place with a long history of growing things. We wanted to honor that rather than erase it. So instead of starting from scratch, we're repurposing as much as possible and building on that agricultural heritage. The new greenhouse is growing again, this time with vegetables and herbs, and the land that once grew roses for the community will be a place for the community to gather.
We're still piecing the full story together, and we have a lot more to learn. If you remember Pennings, whether it's a favorite plant you picked up here or a photo tucked in a drawer somewhere, we would love to hear from you at info@cornwallsocialny.com.